 Thursday, January 28, 2021 in Blog  No Comments |  |  Only about 1 in 10 companies expect all employees to return to their pre-pandemic work arrangements, according to a new survey.
The National Association for Business Economics found that just 11 percent of survey respondents expect all staff members at their companies to return eventually. Around 65 percent of companies have allowed "most" or "all" of their staff members to work from home during the pandemic, and about half of respondents said they plan to continue the policies until the second half of the year.
"For the most part, companies that are able to provide work-from-home are doing so and are continuing to do so," said Andrew Challenger, vice president of the executive outplacement and coaching firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
Challenger said his conversations with human resources executives indicated a reluctance to mandate a return to the office while the virus is still circulating and parts of the country face surges. In some cases, local or state lockdowns, school and day care closings or restrictions on building capacities also limit employers' options.
"You spend more of your waking hours with your colleagues than you do with your family. A lot of people are ready to go back to the office once it`s safe." Workplace experts are fielding questions from anxious human resources managers trying to game out a path forward in a work environment without precedent. "A lot of people are trying to figure out what's the best balancing act. It's been going on for a lot longer than anyone anticipated," said Melissa White, HR knowledge adviser at the Society for Human Resource Management.
Nearly a year into the pandemic, the long duration of workplace disruption has prompted some people to adapt to, and prefer, the new normal, White said. "Now employees may be super-comfortable where they're at, or they may be over it and ready to be back in the office."
Nbcnews.com | |
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